36: The floodwaters receded

As the days passed, the Little White Cat gradually grew bigger. However, as it grew, Ai Yue and the two others became increasingly puzzled—this Little White Cat ate far too much.

Not only that, it was a particularly picky eater, only interested in meat, and it loved fresh raw meat the most. The bloodier the meat, the more excited it became and the more it loved to eat.

It didn't have much interest in the human staple foods, which was different from other cats.

"Mom, this cat eats way too much. Luckily we hoarded enough meat back then, otherwise it would definitely eat us out of house and home," Ai Yue said, giving the Little White Cat in her arms a vigorous rub while pretending to complain.

The Little White Cat was unhappy about being rubbed and let out an "awu" sound at Ai Yue, acting fiercely in a cute, babyish way.

Then it struggled out of Ai Yue's embrace and ran toward Li Shilan with a look of grievance. It jumped onto Li Shilan's lap, constantly making "awu awu" sounds as if saying, "Pooper scooper, someone is bullying me and you're not doing anything about it."

Li Shilan was completely charmed by its cuteness, her heart softening completely. She quickly took it into her arms, gently stroking its fur to soothe it while rebuking Ai Yue, "It's still so small, why are you using so much force? You've hurt the little darling. You're not allowed to use that much force next time."

Seeing Ai Yue get scolded, the Little White Cat bared its teeth at her before finally letting it go, lying on Li Shilan's lap to enjoy its exclusive 'massage' service.

"Heh, has this little guy become a spirit? Mom, look at it." Ai Yue was dumbfounded by its antics.

"What do you mean 'become a spirit'? I told you small animals are very spiritual; now you believe me. However, it really is different from the cats I've raised before. Look at these teeth..." As she spoke, Li Shilan pried open the kitten's mouth to show them. "This cat's teeth are sharper and sturdier than those of other cats, aren't they?"

"They do seem quite sharp. It eats so much, loves raw meat, and was found by Yueyue at the zoo... hiss... could this be..." Ai Guosheng frowned as he examined the Little White Cat's teeth. As he spoke, he looked up at Ai Yue with a look of surprise.

Ai Yue immediately remembered something, slapped her thigh, and said in unison with Ai Guosheng, "A tiger?"

"What? A tiger?" Hearing this, Li Shilan's hand trembled and she used a bit too much force, causing the Little White Cat to let out an unhappy "aowu."

"This, this... it... it won't eat people, will it?"

"Hahaha, Mom, even if it is a tiger, it's only this big. How could it possibly eat people?" Ai Yue burst out laughing.

Ai Yue didn't have much of a reaction to the possibility of the Little White Cat being a tiger. To her, whether it was a white cat or a tiger didn't make much of a difference.

"But what about when it grows up?" Li Shilan was somewhat conflicted.

"Mom, don't worry about whether it's a tiger or not. Just raise it well and train it from a young age. When it grows up, it won't eat people."

"Really?"

"Really. It's so cute, how could it eat people? Besides, maybe it's just a mutated cat and not a tiger. Plus, it doesn't have the 'King' character on its forehead, right?"

Listening to Ai Yue's words, Li Shilan decided in her heart that whether it was a cat or a tiger, it was her little darling.

The Little White Cat didn't understand the difference between being a cat or a tiger to humans. Now, tired of lying down, it stood up, gave a big stretch, and feeling a bit hungry, started "awu awu"-ing at Li Shilan, constantly licking the back of her hand to tell her it was hungry.

Li Shilan patted its head lovingly and set a bowl of meat porridge in front of it. Watching it eat in its cute, tiger-like way, Li Shilan smiled from the bottom of her heart. Its arrival had indeed improved her mood significantly, and her mental state had completely recovered.

With her mental state improved, Li Shilan felt her body filled with strength. So, she continued to train with Ai Yue and the other every day, and in her spare time, she trained the Little White Cat with Ai Guosheng.

Ai Yue hoped that when it grew up, it could survive well even if it left them, so she specifically gave it a very domineering name: "Da Wang."

She hoped that whether it was a cat or a tiger, it could be as powerful as a true King of Beasts.

Living on the highest mountain in the city, Ai Yue could look down on the entire city through a Hubble telescope when she had nothing to do.

This day, as per her routine observation, she actually discovered that the flood in the entire city had receded, revealing the mud-covered ground.

This should have been a good thing, but Ai Yue's heart went cold. According to her experience from her previous life, the flood period should have taken thirteen months to completely recede, but now it had only been nine months. How could the timing not match what happened in her previous life?

Could it be that her rebirth had caused a butterfly effect?

From now on, would her experience from her previous life still serve as a prediction?

All of this was unknown.

Ai Guosheng wanted to go to the city to see the messy, devastated land, and Ai Yue accompanied him. Li Shilan refused to go on the grounds that Da Wang was still small and couldn't be left alone.

Ai Yue understood Li Shilan's thoughts well. What hadn't they experienced in their previous life? They had seen everything they needed to see. The three of them knew all too well what the Apocalypse was like and were powerless to change anything.

Going out and seeing the miserable state of others would only make one feel more sad, and being surrounded by such an environment made it easier to feel despair.

In every corner of the city, survivors were struggling to dig for food in the mud.

Previously, there were floods everywhere, and most people were trapped at home, unable to see the specific situation.

Now, the surviving adults and children were out looking for food, which was when one could see just how miserable and helpless people were under the natural disaster.

Ai Yue and her father drove the hummer into the devastated city.

The long-absent sound of a car brought a hint of life to this quiet city.

Everyone who heard the sound stood up straight and looked toward the direction of the car as if seeing hope.

As Ai Yue drove the car, she saw emaciated people with numb faces and dull eyes. Only when they saw the car did their eyes move, regaining a flicker of spirit.

There were numb people and there were fierce people. Seeing the car approach, many immediately pulled their wives and children to block it. More and more people, unable to resist the temptation, crowded around, especially when they saw the healthy, glowing faces of Ai Yue and her father—they were instantly invigorated.

"They have food! Look at them, they haven't become sallow and thin at all due to the lack of food."

"That's right, everyone go! Drag them out and make them lead us to find food, then we won't be hungry anymore."

...Hearing these words, the eyes of people who hadn't known how long they'd been starving turned green with hunger, and they swarmed forward.

There were also some hesitant people who didn't step forward immediately, but looking down at the elderly and children who were nothing but skin and bones, these people gritted their teeth, stomped their feet, and rushed forward crying... Ai Yue and her father sat quietly in their seats, watching the ferocious people shouting for them to get out. Seeing that Ai Yue and her father were unmoved, the hot-tempered ones began to pound on the car, and more people joined in.

Ai Yue originally wanted to drive through the crowd, but seeing the group of children wailing in fear outside the crowd, she couldn't bring herself to step on the gas.

This hateful Apocalypse!

It forced everyone to become hideous, wicked people!

The hummer had been heavily modified by Ai Yue with a large sum of money before the Apocalypse. The group of people outside smashed and hammered for a long time only to find they couldn't break it at all.

Gradually running out of strength, most people left in disappointment.

Only two groups of people were still persistently smashing at it. These groups didn't have any helpless children with them, and Ai Yue wasn't going to go easy on them.